Common nouns: the home and food
Thirty-odd everyday objects, each learned together with its gender — which Spanish usually tells you honestly.
Around the home
Learn each noun with its article. In Spanish the ending usually agrees with the article, which gives you a fourth cue on top of the usual three.
- la casathe housemi casamy house
- la cocinathe kitchenen la cocinain the kitchen
- el salónthe living room
- el dormitoriothe bedroom
- la puertathe doorCierra la puerta.Close the door.
- la ventanathe window
- la mesathe table
- la sillathe chair
- el bañothe bathroom / the toilet
The word to ask for in a café or a station.
What the colours above mean
8 of 10 colours so farA thing, a person or a place.
An action or a state — what is happening.
Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.
the / a / some — and possessives like mon, ma.
Links words together — to, in, of, for.
Describes a noun.
Opens a question — where, when, how, why.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
Question words join this week. Adverbs and conjunctions are the last two, and they arrive in Week 4.
The room, in one picture
Comenius did this in 1658, in the first picture textbook ever printed: a drawing, numbers on the things in it, the words keyed to the numbers. Tap a number to hear it. Then hide the words and name what you can before you check.
Tap a number, or a word, to hear it.
Food and drink
- el panbread
- el cafécoffeeun café con lechea white coffee
- el tétea
- el aguawater
Feminine — but it takes el, not la. See the note below; this is the one real trap in the list.
- el vinowineuna copa de vinoa glass of wine
- la cervezabeer
- el quesocheese
- la cartathe menuLa carta, [por favor].The menu, please.
- la cuentathe billLa cuenta, [por favor].The bill, please.
On the table
The food and drink from the list above, laid out. Tap to hear. When the list feels familiar, hide the words and go round the table naming everything out loud.
Tap a number, or a word, to hear it.
El agua is still feminine
A handful of feminine nouns beginning with a stressed a- take el instead of la, purely because la agua is awkward to say. The word has not changed gender: it is el agua fría, with a feminine adjective. So el here is shown slanted, carrying the feminine the way it always did. Exactly the same problem as l'eau in French, solved by exactly the same cue.
Sentence frames
- 1
¿Dónde está la cocina / el baño?
Where is ___?
- 2
Quisiera un café / pan.
I would like ___.
Quisiera is the polite would like. Use it and you will always sound courteous.
- 3
La cuenta, [por favor].
The bill, please.
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
Easy Spanish — street interviews
YouTube
Real speech with Spanish and English subtitles. Do not try to understand everything. Aim to catch the words you already know.
What stuck?
Check it before you close the page.
Up to 10 of this week's words and frames. Say each one out loud before you look, and say whether you think you have it. Guessing first and then checking is what makes it stick — reading the answer feels better and does less.